Hair clasp



Sept. 13, 1949. A. J. SPOKUS HAIR CLASP Filed Sept. 2, I947 ALBIN J. SPOKUS FIG. 6

3nventor Gttorncu Patented. Sept. 13, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT-OFFICE Albin J. Spokus, Seattle, Wash.

Application September 2, 1947, Serial No. 771,689 I a 3 Claims. ((1132-48) This invention relates to improvements in hair clasps and, more particularly, to devices for holding ornaments in the hair in a quickly attachable and detachable manner, yet with firmness.

It is a prime object of this invention to provide a holder for hair ornaments which can quickly and easily be engaged with an ornament, without requiring skill on the part of the user.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a hair-clasping holder for ornaments which is not easily dislodged in used and which holds an ornament against non-intentional dislodgement.

Another object of the invention is to provide, in a hair clasp of the type described, a clasping element that can simply and quickly be brought into clasping position without skill or difliculty on the part of the, user..

Yet another object resides in the provision in a hair clasp of gripping elements that will receive a variety of sizes and shapes of ornaments, without permitting accidental dislodgement even though violently handled or treated.

The foregoing objects and others ancillary thereto I prefer to accomplish as follows:

According to a preferred form of my invention, I mount upon a hair clasp a clamping or gripping element to secure ornaments to the clasp. Specifically, the hair clasp comprises a U-shaped element, formed of resilient and springy material, such as spring steel or the like, so shaped and arranged that the legs are biased together to straddle and clasp a lock of hair. One of the legs is longer than the other and has an intermediate series of dentations of various sizes along its length. The dentations are arranged so that the grooves are lateral of the leg with the obverse portion outward, and the reverse portion overlying the other leg, whereby a lock of hair is securely gripped. A spring blade overlies the obverse of said dentations by having one end slidably encircling the dentate leg between the grooves and the bend of the U-shape. The other end of the blade also has a loop that will slip over the end of the dentate blade and hold it securely thereto.

The novel features that I consider characteristic of my invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its organization and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following description of a spe- V 2 cific embodiment when read in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of my hair clasp in the closed position;

Fig. 2 is a similar view of theclasp in the open position;

Fig. 3 is an enlargedcross-sectional view taken on line 33 of Figs. 1 and 2; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view showing the clasp as gripping the stem of a flower.

A hair clasp, to meet the objects of this invention, must be simple to construct and use; it must be capable of receiving and securely gripping an ornament; and it must keep the ornament placed in the hair as desired by the user. Accordingly, a preferred embodiment of the invention, referring to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing, is constituted by a U-shaped hair clasp that carries a clamping member with respect to certain ornament-receiving elements. The hair clasp includes the spring legs Ill and I2 which are integral with each other, being joined by the U-bend portion l4. Preferably, I use spring bar material, such as spring steel or the like, bent and shaped as shown, and biased together to a gripping position.

Leg I2 is deformed in a zig-zag manner. to form dentations that provide grooves l6, l8 and 2!), and the teeth l1, I9 and 2| that are directed toward leg Hi. When the clasp is astraddle a lock of hair, the teeth l1, I9 and 2| bite into the lock and grip it securely, due to the biasing of the legs together and the action of the spring material from which they are formed.

Leg H! has its end I I curved to facilitate spreading of the legs, as a user will normally insert a thumb or finger nail between the legs and twist them apart.

A spring blade 24 overlies the grooves l6, l8 and 29, and is formed to curve, in the open position, away from leg l2, so that an ornament may be inserted in one of the grooves. Blade 24 is slidably secured to leg l2 between bend l4 and groove I6 by bent-over ears 26 that form a sliding couple. The other end of the spring blade also has ears 26 which form a loop to slip over the free end I 3 of blade l2, when the blade is distorted from the curved position into alignment, as shown in Fig. 1. When so closed, the blades will grip a flower stem S, or other ornament, as suggested in Fig. 4. If the thing to be gripped is larger, the groove It will be used and similarly groove 20 will receive smaller objects. A bow may be formed of ribbon by knotting, and then blade 24 is passed through the knot or around it and closed toward blade l2, and is there secured by having the loop at the free end slipped over end l3 of blade l2. It is desirable that the grooves and teeth of blade l2 lie generally to one side of the plane of said blade, so that blade 24 will lie outside the grooves and the teeth will protrude to enter and form strands in a lock of hair.

It has been found that this clasp will firmly hold a heavyflower in relatively light, thin hair, without displacement,'even though the wearer may be actively dancing or swinging her head. Yet the device is easily removed from the hair and the ornament from the gripping jaws Without difficulty.

While I have shown and described particular embodiments of my invention, it will occur to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the invention, and I therefore aim in the appended claims tocover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention. 7 7

Having thus described my invention, I claim: 1. A device for holding ornaments in the hair, comprising: a sprin-gy U-shaped element to straddle a lock of hair and having its legs biased together, one of said legs being'longer than the other and having ,an intermediate series-of vari-sized dentations the grooves of which lie non-perpendicular and lateral to the axis of the shorter leg, a spring blade overlying said dentations and slidably secured to said longer leg between said dentations and the bend of said U-shaped element, and means for securing said spring blade to the end of saidlcnger leg to grip an ornament between said leg and blade in one of said dentations.

2. A device for holding ornaments in the hair, comprising: a springy 'Ueshaped element to straddle a lock of hair and having its legs biased to- 'gether, one of said legs being longer than the 40 685,856

4 other and having an intermediate series of varisized dentations the grooves of which lie nonperpendicular and lateral to the axis of the shorter leg, a spring blade overlying said dentations and slidably secured to said longer leg on one side of said dentations, and means for secura ing the unsecured end of said spring blade to said v longer leg on the other side of said dentations to grip an ornament between said leg and blade in one of said dentations,

3. A device for holding" ornaments in the hair, comprising: a springy U-shaped element to straddle a lock of hair and having its legs biased together, one of said legs being longer than the other .andhaving an intermediate series of varisized dentations the grooves of which lie nonperpendicular and lateral to the axis of the shorter leg, a spring blade overlying said dentations and having an encircling loop slidably engaged about said longer leg between said dentations and the bend of said U=shaped element-,; and

a second loop carried by thepther end of said,

spring blade to engagethe end of said longer leg to grip an 'crnamentibetween said leg-and blade in one of said dentations. V i r .ALBINJ. SPOKUS.

REFERENQES orrnn I The following references are of record in the file of ,thispatent:

w STA E PA ENT Number Name Date 656,430 Storz Aug. 4,1903 1,537,964 Eetters'sonjl May 19, 1925 FQREIG'N PATENTS Number Country Date 632,476 France oct. 10, 1927 France Apr. 7, 1930 

